Get Out of Your Dorm Room!

The best thing about living in the dorms is getting out of your dorm room!  Living in the dorms is one of the best experiences in college, but getting out of the dorms is just as important.

When I first went away for my freshman year, I remember telling one of my high school teachers on a visit back home that on Tuesday nights a bunch of friends and I would crowd around our TV watch Tosh.0 together. Being a fan of the show, I thought he would enjoy hearing this, but he was flabbergasted at the statement. “You’re in college watching TV? There are a million different things to do on campus every day!”

At the time, I shrugged it off because I knew I was involving myself in extracurricular activities and groups on campus on top of a pretty heavy class schedule. What was the harm in staying in one night a week?

I’ve been out of college for a few years now (*weeps*), and recently had a family friend go off to college. On her most recent visit home, I was ecstatic to hear about what shenanigans she had gotten into the first three weeks at her new school. She casually responded, “It’s fun, but I mostly stay in my dorm room.”

My head practically imploded. I felt everything my high school teacher had felt. My therapist would probably psychoanalyze this and say I’m having a jealous reaction because I wish I could live vicariously through her, or relive my own college years—BUT THIS ARTICLE ISN’T ABOUT MY WEEKLY HOUR WITH KAREN.

Anyways, the point is that college goes by fast, and they are the four (or five) years where you’re still growing out of your teenage years, but still not a full-formed adult. Thus making it the perfect time to waste sleep to party, or have deep 3 AM conversations with floormates, or to devote way too many hours to a new group that expands your passion for one of your interests. Now is the time to do it, because you can stay inside watching Netflix after a long day at your dead end 9-5 for the rest of your life, but the experience of being surrounded by friends in an active and fun culture is something magical that college gives you.

Now is the time to make the memories and friendships that will stay with you for a lifetime! Get out of your dorm room! If for whatever reason you can’t bear to leave the building, I will accept heart to hearts that happen on the floor of your hallway right outside your dorm room. At a minimum, make the effort to invite others into your dorm or to go into others dorms, whether it’s to chat, drink, dance, or just play some games with your new friends.

These are the nights to remember.